My Favourite Things

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Accqumen

In Calgary, as in most of Canada, the winter is long. If you are going to spend it looking forward to summer weather, you’ll wish your life away. Now that we are fairly certain that winter is here to stay for the next few (okay, quite a few) months, I decided it would be a good time to think about what I like about winter.

The clean whiteness of the snow.

jilewis

Snowflakes at Night

Alpha

Hot Chocolate

Magellan

 Snow People

Loozrboy

Santa Claus Parade

It is just wrong to have this parade in warm climates!

Belard

Anyway, if the weather was never frightful, when would I find the cozy fire delightful?

Inspiration: Top Ten Authors

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Wow. What a tough job. There are so many brilliant authors who have written wonderful books. The following list (in no particular order), are the authors I chose, painfully, for my Top Ten list. Thanks for the inspiration!
PS I know there are eleven, for those of you who are counting. But I really did try for ten!

1. LM Montgomery

2. Madeleine L’Engle

3. Eugenia Price

4. Carol Shields

5. Barbara Kingsolver

6. Jane Urquhart

7. Cornelia Funke

8. Shannon Hale

9. Kenneth Oppel

10. Sarah Dessen

10 + I know! I know! Francine Rivers

Writing: It’s a Love/Hate Thing

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“I hate writing. I love having written.” Dorothy Parker

Prompted by a Twitter post this morning, I began to think about my relationship with my writing. It’s kind of a love/hate thing. I wouldn’t exactly call it writer’s block but when the Muse is on holidays and I’m tearing the hair from my scalp, I wonder why I write. On days when the Muse smiles on me and compelling characters appear to write their own story, it’s magical, and I feel brilliant to have qualified for her gifts. The quote I most closely identify with is the following one from Sol Stein. “Writers are people who cannot not write.” That’s me. For better or for worse, in brilliance and in boring, I cannot not write. And so, I write.

Check back at the end of the week for my Top Ten List

The Muse Returns: There’s Nothing Better

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It’s Calgary. It’s November. The weather outside is, well, frightful. Despite the frozen landscape AND the fact that I seem to have lost “the kitchen sink” from my WordPress site, I must say that on this particular Friday, the View looks amazing. Inspired by the courageous souls who set out to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November, I decided to set my own courageous goal. First a bit of background.

For the past year I have struggled with how to get my new (using the term loosely) historical fiction manuscript on track. The story felt forced, the scenes contrived and the characters wooden. Yikes! Panic set in as I tried to figure out what to do. The Muse was obviously enjoying a holiday elsewhere and I was left to my own pathetic devices, wondering if, in fact, this was a story at all. The history I chose to include was difficult to weave into the story. And yet, I felt passionate about the historical heroes and decided there MUST be a way to create a strong fictional protagonist in the midst.

So…for November, I decided if there are writers out there who can write an entire novel from scratch, surely I can rewrite my current manuscript into a compelling plot with compelling characters. The beginning (a very good place to start), was a big problem. It set the reader up for a disappointment as the story took a left turn soon after Chapter One. There were too many characters who weren’t moving the story forward. As much as I loved my description of the house and the face in the window, it was boring. There was no way I could continue writing the story until the beginning was right. Right, as it turns out, is not as simple as it sounds. But, a team of readers and several rewrites later I had the beginning I needed and FINALLY I was ready to move forward with the story. An interesting thing happened. The muse returned. As I wrote, more ideas popped into my head. Interesting connections between the characters began to occur and characters that I hadn’t realized were in the story, appeared as if by magic, once I got rid of the wooden ones. Now, the scenes move the story forward in a compelling way, rather than being forced into the mix. Every day now, I look forward to meeting with my characters to see what will happen next. When the muse is in motion, magic happens. Nothing is better. It’s why I write.

Inspiration: Motivating the Muse

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Now that I have had a few months of being my own boss, I am getting into a bit of a routine and discovering what works for me as an author to be productive. November has been an inspiring month so far, and here are some of the reasons why:

1.DAILY WRITING This is absolutely key, so even if it means a later-than-usual night, I make a point of sitting on my chair, in front of my computer, and insisting that words appear on the screen in front of me. It works. The muse is funny that way. Give her a few days off and she balks and complains. But, tap into her magic on a daily basis and her power knows no bounds.

2.READERS I have surrounded myself with a team of readers who give me feedback on, for example, which Chapter One they find most compelling or engaging. This gives me perspective and inspires me to raise the bar. Writing a novel is an endurance exercise and can be tough slogging at times. Getting feedback along the way is crucial.

3. SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS This is the time of year when I get booked for many speaking engagements for the coming calendar year. When I am in the middle of wrestling a character into shape or raising the stakes in the plot line, it’s rewarding to know that what I have learned is valued by others. It’s exciting to contemplate the presentations and to reflect on what I have to offer. So far I have been booked for teachers conventions in Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Medicine Hat and Grande Prairie. Next fall I have the honour of presenting at the Kaleidoscope Conference in Calgary. Sounds like fun!

4. READING To me, this is the reward after a day of tweeting, blogging, writing, rewriting, rewriting, rewriting. But it is also crucial for my writing. No writer creates in a vacuum. I love having a stack of books (okay, several stacks of books) just waiting for me to dive into. I’m a self-confessed book addict, so I’ll probably never catch up on my reading, but that’s okay. There is nothing better than being transported to another world through the written word. It is why I write. And with all the amazing authors out there, I am never short of inspiration. The only thing better than a good book is a great book. Every day the authors of those great books challenge me to raise the stakes and raise the bar in my own writing.

Speaking of my own writing, I better end my time with you and get back at it! I hope you have found some inspiration here.

The View from Friday

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Today is supposed to be a lucky day, not only because I get to sleep in tomorrow, but because it is 11/11/11. Funny, isn’t it, how we humans like to attach significance to patterns and numbers? It’s as though we feel that somehow we are in control of the universe, if only we can find that special pattern. If only we can connect that special pattern to significant events in our lives, then maybe all the stars will align and we really will be lucky. As for me, my day started out not so lucky. Due to a variety of events (that were out of my control), our weekend trip was cancelled, leaving a hollow feeling that I was missing out on something. On the other hand, it did give me extra time to work on my manuscript. And I did receive a phone with a speaking invitation for an upcoming convention. So, maybe 11/11/11 is lucky after all and it was really good luck that intervened and insisted I stay home this weekend.

Either way, it’s important to acknowledge that November 11 always carries its own significance. I can feel sorry for myself, that I missed out on a trip, or I can feel happy that I made great progress on my manuscript. But I MUST feel grateful, for those, who were selfless enough to consider my future when they marched off to the trenches.

No matter what the date, I have to admit, that I am very lucky to be granted the life I live.

Bad Bunny Marble Is Mad

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Marble can be very frustrating, it’s true. But, after all, he is a bunny. When we picked him up from the breeder, she said, “What people forget is that rabbits are not dogs or cats they are rabbits.” So, when you decide to get a bunny for a pet, as obvious as it may sound, you need to expect a bunny personality.  Bunnies don’t talk. This is not a bad thing. I like quiet pets. But, communication is a challenge. If I forget to put in fresh hay, (Marble hates stale hay), he starts pulling at things with his teeth and throwing stuff around. He loves my daughter’s pet shop toys for this particular activity. If I misunderstand this show of frustration, and think its funny, then Marble gets mad. That’s when he goes for biting my toe, to get my attention. Not so funny.  On the weekend I decided to simplify bunny care by buying less messy little bales of hay to put in his cage. I thought this was a clever idea. Marble was not impressed. He did not like the taste of the new hay. He sniffed it and looked up at me with his big marble eyes, sniffed it again, then hopped away. It was a clear message. But, hay is not as cheap as you would expect, especially when it comes packaged in neat little bales, so I decide Marble should eat the hay, whether he like it or not. Marble was mad.  He raced under my daughters captain’s bed, a game he loves to play. But this time he did not come out. We bribed him with his favourite treat, but  Marble did not come out. We squirted him with water, which he hates. But still Marble did not come out. We pushed him out with a broom handle, cuddled him with a towel to dry him off, and put him back in his playroom. But Marble was still mad. When we left the playroom he scratched the metal hardware of our beautiful, new, forbidden blinds on the patio doors, which were pushed all the way closed into a tight accordian. This prevents him from getting behind the tv to chew the cords-usually. But today Marble ignored all the warnings about the forbidden blinds. He reached around the metal hardware and grabbed a mouthful of the compressed blinds and pulled. He could not get the blinds to open so he tried again. By the time we returned to the family room our beautiful blinds had a custom bunny design, across the entire 8 feet of forbidden blinds. Bad, Bunny Marble.  Bunnies don’t bark or meow to get your attention. Bunnies chew. (Gets the long, rough scraggly hay that Marble loves from the pet store-puts little hay bales out for the wild bunnies. They don’t like it either.) Sigh!

It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like…Snow

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It’s Friday. The new day for my blog. I’ve decided that this is the day I would like to reflect on my week and report on The View from Starbucks. Of course, I’m in Starbucks and, of course, I’m trying to create the perfect Chapter One for my novel.  Snowflakes adorn my environment inside and out today, as Starbucks gets a jump on the Christmas spirit. Yesterday it seemed a little premature, I mean, we’re barely past Halloween.  But today, with the ground covered in white, the snowflakes and Christmas decorations seem just right.

Snow often brings out our grumpy side. But today, I’m feeling inspired by the snow.

Snow is beautiful. It blankets the ground, covering a large layer of ugly.

Snow is peaceful. It provides white space in our hectic “Busytown” world.

Snow is quiet. It insulates us from our”Busytown” noise.

Snow is pure. White snow, that is. Not yellow snow.

Snow is fun. Snowmen pop up and angels appear, diminishing the tension we have allowed to build up.

Snow is happy. A dad just came in to Starbucks with a big smile on his face. “My kids love skiing,” he said.

Snow is a haven. A perfect day to curl up by the fire and write.

And so, even though my car slid all the way to Starbucks, the winter tires comfortably resting in the garage, I’m in a better mood today, because of the snow.

Thoughts from a Dinosaur

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I have to say that I love the options that come with new technologies. With my BlackBerry, I connect much more frequently with my son, who rarely actually talks on the phone anymore, and with my sister-in-law in Winnipeg. We still call each other on an old-fashioned land line, but now I know when she is stuck in an airport somewhere with time to kill. It’s fun getting some of the minutiae. And, I absolutely love the world that social media has opened up for me. No longer is the writing life such a solitary venture. I open up my Twitter and there, in my living room , are all my author, writer friends full of clever, inspiring, humorous thoughts for me to start my day. On Facebook, I have joyfully connected with long-lost cousins and friends and those connections too, are very rewarding and energizing. Blogging has been fun and hopefully helpful as I share some pearls and sharpen my writing skills.  BUT, I do wonder what we are losing.  Perhaps I am the last of the journal-writing dinosaurs, but I can’t help but notice, that with all the public chatting, I rarely get around to my private journal.  And, while I can save my blogs and my e-mails (God forbid!) they do not replace the quiet meditative moments as I reflect on my life, my journey, my decisions.  For me, this  has always been an essential way of processing my day and expressing my most private thoughts and fears.  It also helps me sort out problems in my novel. BUT, how much sharing, reflecting, expressing, writing can a person do in a day? Now, at the end of the day, my journal seems a bit like overkill and more often than not, I shut off my computer and fall asleep with thoughts of my characters dancing in my head. All of the new technologies are not bad, but still, I do wonder if I’m throwing the baby out with the bath water.

It’s All About the View

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Plumbers were at my house until after 10pm with a kitchen sink problem gone crazy.  I didn’t sleep well and woke up this morning feeling tired and grumpy and completely uninspired. I hate days like that. But then, as I was driving back home from dropping my daughter off at school, something happened. I thought about how lucky I was to have a kitchen sink, which, while not working particularly well at the moment, can easily be fixed. And I thought about the fancy new faucet I had picked out and the new sink I got because the new faucet didn’t work with the old sink. (A combination of Murphy’s Law and the Domino Effect.) And I thought about the beautiful view from my large kitchen window looking onto the private yard which is mine to enjoy any time I want. I have not yet travelled to Europe, which I have to admit is a result of making other choices along the journey and somehow there was never enough money. So, as I am paying for kitchen sinks and plumbers, and wishing the money was going toward a trip to Europe, I realize there is another view. With my teaching career over, I have a lot of writing time in my quiet crescent, with my tranquil view and there are no riots in my city.  My husband, my son, my daughter all bring me great joy and my health is better than it has been in years. Sound like a glass half empty, glass half full kind of story? Maybe.  But it really is all about the view, and the direction that view is pointing. As for my POV?  Life couldn’t be better.